I'm sorry Josh, I tried
by ampora-babe
Summary: Warning: Character death. Yeah. It pained me to do it. Just a little something I wrote while listening to my Alex playlist... Don't judge me okay. I suck at writing summaries so this'll have to do.


Running, just had to keep running. Run from that thing, whatever it was. He could hear it behind him, heavy arms (were they arms? Who knew with the things in this hell hole.) slamming into the ground, the sound echoing through the empty streets.

Alex had sat down for a minute, just one minute. Thinking the spot he'd found safe enough to stop and clean a gushing wound one of the spidery things with blades for legs had left on him, he should have known better, no place here was safe, when the fucker came clambering around the corner. He had been up off the ground as fast as he could, leaving his first aid kit behind. He'd been to scared to even scoop it up. Not that it would've been a good idea in the first place. Now he was fucked, anything he had to heal himself gone and no bullets in either of his guns. And there was no way he was getting close enough to that thing to fight it with his axe.

Why was he even still running? What was the point? He had nothing to defend himself and he was starting to feel faint from blood loss, the coppery liquid flowing freely down his arm. He knew it was only a matter of time before he collapsed but something in him kept him going despite his bodies protest. Maybe there was still hope he could out-run it.

Again though, he knew better. He was slowing down, the thing was catching up to him. Apparent by how close it's arm falls were getting, the noise echoing in his brain, which only caused his panic to rise, heartbeat speeding up even more than it already had. /I-I can't- I can't keep this up./ he thought /But I can't die, not yet, I haven't found Joshua. I have to find my brother./

Despite his mind protest, he could feel his body reach it's limit. He fell, landing face first on the street. "No, no, not now. Please not now." he begged, trying to drag himself across the asphalt. He looked behind him, a quick glance to see how far it was.

The monster was only a few paces away and Alex could swear his heart burst inside his chest. Now there was no doubt he was a goner. The only thing left to do was lie still and let the thing beat him into the ground /I'm sorry Josh, I'm so sorry. I tried, I swear I tried./ he closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain.

Suddenly a noise, not the monster this time, rang through the air. Alex could tell it was gunfire. He looked again to see the thing direct it's attention at something that wasn't him and it didn't take Alex long enough to see what it was. Standing off to the side of the street was Wheeler and Elle. Wheeler had been the one that had shot at it and now he was saying something to Elle and gesturing towards Alex with his head.

He must have been telling her to go to Alex because the next thing he knew she was running towards him as Wheeler started luring the thing further away from him. She dropped on her knees next to him, rolling him over onto his back and pulling him into her arms "Oh God, Alex, Alex are you okay?" she asked, worry and panic evident in her tone.

"I'm tired Elle." he replied "So tired."

"Alex." he could tell she was about to cry "Alex you can't rest, not here, not now. You still have to find Joshua."

He gave her a half-hearted smile "Don't worry. I just need to sleep a little. I'll be fine when I wake up. And then we can find Josh and Nora." he tried to sound hopeful, reassuring. But he knew it wasn't working. Even he knew that if he went to sleep, he wouldn't wake up. He just couldn't do this anymore, he was giving up, even though he hadn't found his brother.

"You know better than that." she scolded him.

Alex could feel tears gathering in the corners of his eyes "I know." he coughed, "I just- I can't do it." he reached up to brush away her tears just as one of his own rolled down his cheek "Promise me Elle, promise me you'll find him. And when you do, tell him I'm sorry, tell him... Tell him I love him."

Elle nodded, choking back a sob "I promise Alex. Now," she gulped "Now just go to sleep."

"Yeah," he laughed, letting his eyes close "Sleep." he took a deep breath "I'm sorry, Elle."

"It's okay Alex. You have nothing to be sorry for just- just rest."

He was about to say something, but decided against it. He was too weak to speak. He took a few more ragged breaths, savoring that last little bit of air he could get before his breathing stopped completely, body going limp in Elle's arms.

She took note of this and pressed her fingers to his neck to confirm what she had already known in her gut. Alex was gone. Sobs started wracking her body, tears flowing freely now. She sat there for a few minutes, holding Alex's body like she was afraid it was going to disappear before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to come face to face with Wheeler.

"Is he-" he didn't finish his sentence, letting the unsaid question hang in the air.

She nodded, gently laying his body on the ground, leaning forward to press a kiss to his forehead "Yes," she replied, letting the officer help her to her feet "But we have to keep going. We have to find Josh and Nora"

"We're still going to look for Josh?"

"I promised I would find him, and I'm going to do it." she glanced back at his body for a second "For Alex."


End file.
